PHILADELPHIA — The NBA draft is a yearly exercise in uncertainty. Ten teams passed on Michael Carter-Williams, for example, and look at how that worked out.

On that note, and given today’s proximity to the upcoming holiday, the 76ers have Carter-Williams for which to be most thankful.

Thankful for the opening to his first pro season. Thankful he slid into their laps with the 11th overall pick in last June’s draft.

The rookie point guard has performed admirably in his first go-around in the league, has rebounded nicely from an injury from which he said he’s fully healed, and has given the Sixers front office reason to believe that they have in their possession the first cornerstone of the rebuilding effort.

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How good has Carter-Williams been? Through 15 games, he leads all rookies with per-game averages of 17.3 points, 7.4 assists, 5.7 rebounds, 3.0 steals and 36.2 minutes. And to bolster the argument in his defense, his competitors in a handful of those fields lag considerably behind.

“I wish every rookie the best,” Carter-Williams said, following the Sixers’ practice Tuesday at Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine. “I want everyone in my class to do well. As they say, we’re one of the weakest classes ever. I’d love for every one of us to prove that wrong.”

The numbers posted by Carter-Williams could be attributed to his situation and his identity: a headstrong player on a below-average team being turned loose.

Say Carter-Williams, a projected lottery pick, had fallen to a team two-guys deep at the point guard position, yet couldn’t pass on his potential. The 21-year-old would be nothing more than a fixture on that team’s bench, garnering experiential wisdom, but nothing more. Instead, the Sixers traded their All-Star at his position and made him their focus. His statistics align with that.

Sixers coach Brett Brown can’t argue that, either.

“He’s getting big minutes. He’s got a green light,” Brown said. “He’s got a freedom to play and, at times, to make mistakes. That counts for a lot.”

But …

“Once he’s taken advantage of that situation, his talent and his skill level is far greater than I imagined or I guessed,” Brown added. “The thing I still stand by is there’s a toughness and a leadership emerging in him that I project out and get excited with. He has a far greater intellect as a point guard than I would have guessed.”

Those mistakes to which Brown alluded include Carter-Williams’ 3.4 turnovers-per-game average, which almost has become a footnote to his otherwise stellar play.

As dynamic a debut as Carter-Williams has experienced, the 6-6 guard out of Syracuse spent the month of November trying to prove his three-game effort in Week 1 for which he was named Eastern Conference Player of the Week wasn’t a flash in the pan.

Mission accomplished.

A temporary roadblock to that was a bruise in the arch of his left foot, which caused him to miss four games. Carter-Williams sputtered in his first game back, and returned to form with a career-best 29-point showing last Saturday at Indiana.

The most-difficult aspect of his rookie season, Carter-Williams said, has been “maintaining every single day.” There’s a pressure associated with that, too.

“When you’re out there, you have to perform,” he said. “I’m getting used to it. I’m out there with my teammates, playing hard and getting used to the speed and the physicality of the game.”

Ten players, including three at his position, had their names called prior to Carter-Williams’. That couldn’t have worked out for the better, he said, as his landing in Philly was “a great situation.”

“I was very fortunate, very lucky to have the opportunity here,” Carter-Williams said. “I didn’t really know what to expect. I didn’t know how hard it was going to be. It’s still a long process. I’m still getting through some things.”

Based on Carter-Williams’ pedigree, it’s a safe bet the Sixers can live with that.